'Acid' that burns metal but not flesh has a simple scientific explanation

By Sam Downing3 years ago

Chemists, aka the funnest people ever, have a pretty well-known party trick: inviting someone to stir their hot drink with what looks like an everyday spoon, then cackling as the utensil dissolves into nothing.

The trick works because the spoons are in fact made of gallium (element 31), which looks exactly like aluminium (element 13, and gallium's upstairs neighbour on the periodic table) but melts at a piddling 30 degrees Celsius.

So this tricksy video of a "very strong acid" eating away at a spoon without burning a human hand looks shocking. But the spoon is just gallium, and the "acid" is just harmless Mountain Dew — though just because something is harmless doesn't mean it's not putrid.